See that is what best sums God up for me. I can't explain God and what she/he/it is, but I look around me and can say that my life, my surroundings, the sky, the rain, my friends, my daughter, my family, the stranger on the bus.... everything.... that's what God is. God is everything around me and everything that makes up me as a person... spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally... everything.
-
P&S Moderators: JackARoe | Cheshire_Kat
[MEGA] God
- Thread starter goatyoghurt
- Start date
- Status
See that is what best sums God up for me. I can't explain God and what she/he/it is, but I look around me and can say that my life, my surroundings, the sky, the rain, my friends, my daughter, my family, the stranger on the bus.... everything.... that's what God is. God is everything around me and everything that makes up me as a person... spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally... everything.
The_Idler
Bluelighter
So, you believe in the existence of everything.
why not just say so, rather than creating these semantic tangles,
where people may think you actually believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, incomprehensible and transcendent Creator of the Universe....
(hmmm there's a word for that....
OH YEAH, NOW I REMEMBER!-
God.)
Why be so attached to this idea of having faith in the existence of God?
You want to say "Oh yes, I believe in God" when you're talking to someone religious,
or when you want a church wedding,
or when you're cautiously meeting your SO's parents,
or when you want to get your child into a Faith School (desirable in the UK, less violence and vice.... slightly),
or when you're running for election to ****** position,
or when a situation seems impossible to surmount,
or when you don't understand the world,
or when the best brains of humanity don't understand the world.
But then, when someone asks a hard question about the plausibility of the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, incomprehensible and transcendent Creator of the Universe, you say you believe that God is actually just "everything".
or whatever other lame definition you can come up with, that dodges the original question.
We get to the point where people just name OTHER things, which they believe God IS.
Can you not, srs, just admit to yourself that the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, incomprehensible and transcendent Creator of the Universe is not actually something you are certain of?
If that is the case, simply admit, you do not believe in God.
That is not to say that you don't consider it the most likely possibility....
You COULD redefine the word God,
but why bother saying that you believe in God, and that God is all the energy in the Universe,
when "energy in the universe" is already a carefully-defined and thoroughly investigated idea?
You may as well just say,
"I do not believe in God, as The Creator, although I acknowledge the possibility, and have confidence in the probability, of His existence.
I also happen to have faith in the existence of all the energy in the Universe, despite humanity having nothing like the capacity required, to fathom the nature of, well, anything."
or, when someone asks if you believe in the existence of God,
"Yes, I believe in the existence of [all the energy in the universe/collective spirit of humanity/love/universal consciousness/The Universe]"
I feel a spiritual need to give thanks for my existence,
to demonstrate my appreciation and admiration for the elegance and fascinatingly diverse properties and products of it.
The beauty of it is overwhelming.
I worship The Universe.
You could say, The Universe is my God.
This would be true.... "my God"
However, I do not believe that "God is The Universe".
Not least because people might think I were holding such a view,
simply so I can tell myself (or others), 'I believe in God'.
If you take Him by the classical definition,
as the omnipotent, omniscient, incomprehensible and transcendent Creator of the Universe,
this is clearly not the same thing as "The Universe", itself.
So, rather than having to inform particular people that your belief in God amounts to belief in "The Universe",
conveniently invalidating any arguments they may have made against the logical probability of His existence,
why not just explain that you are in absolute awe of the beauty of The Universe,
the entirety of existence being the defining, symbolic concept, which you consider with absolute reverence, which you pay respects to and give thanks for?
That may be LOVE or HUMAN SPIRIT or Yahweh, God of Abraham or WHATEVER,
for next man,
but you really have to admit to yourself, one day,
that old story is too implausible,
God's existence is not certain to you and may even be improbable.
You might like to call mass-energy "God",
certainly a defining conceptual symbol of the miracle of your existence,
but I get the feeling that all the mass-energy in the universe isn't going to send me to heaven or deliver me from my sins.
It just might be able to tell Moses to stone a man to death for picking up sticks of a Sunday, however.
My point is,
I don't doubt the fact that the power (psychological, spiritual or physical; theoretical or actual) of
[all the energy in the universe/collective spirit of humanity/love/universal consciousness/etc]
is incomprehensibly immense and dynamic,
but they, by definition, did not MAGICALLY construct the Universe and Humanity and the ideas of good and evil etc, to subsequently directly demand respect and reverence,
and so, they are not God.
Don't even bother pretending;
use the general definition of God;
admit you cannot be certain about such a being's existence;
acknowledge that, by extension, you cannot have faith in the existence of God, as He is described classically;
conclude that it would be counter-productive and intellectually embarrassing, to attempt to insist that you do, in fact, have faith in God,
yet only with the absurd condition that God is defined as any concept, other than those, which define God.
all these other, new, personalized definitions of God are useless.
Accepting that God can mean anything makes the question, "Do you believe in God?" completely redundant.
It is just an impediment to discussion,
which probably existences in such prevalence,
due to two of its properties:
1. allows people the convenience/comfort of appearing religious (or not), as the situation demands
2. allows people to swing both ways;
they can justify or support any logical ideas with scientific evidence and reasoning,
while still retaining the ability to invalidate any logical argument against their ideas by pointing out that,
because some generally accepted psychological/physical phenomena happens to be what they call "God",
their theories are not, in fact, subject to criticism based upon logic and reason.
cheap.
sry long unorganized post.
RCs...
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
claire22
Bluelighter
i personally, do not believe god exists. i don't force my beliefs on anybody, and do not appreciate it when people who believe force it on me.
i just cannot believe in something that i have seen zero proof exists..
i just cannot believe in something that i have seen zero proof exists..
junctionalfunkie
Bluelighter
^Yep. 
And as for the common monotheistic belief that god is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, it can be argued that evidence exists to refute it:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nicholas_tattersall/evil.html
"When it comes to believing in God, I really, really tried, but, the more you look around, the more you realize something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. This is not good work. If this is the best that God can do, I’m not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being."
-George Carlin
And as for the common monotheistic belief that god is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, it can be argued that evidence exists to refute it:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nicholas_tattersall/evil.html
"When it comes to believing in God, I really, really tried, but, the more you look around, the more you realize something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. This is not good work. If this is the best that God can do, I’m not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being."
-George Carlin
johanneschimpo
Bluelighter
God. Something that I don't really believe in, but always make sure to capitalize out of respect. Thats what God is to me.
goldilocks37
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2007
- Messages
- 58
To the Ants Humans are God
God is the opium of the masses. Those that believe feel infinite comfort...ignorance is bliss. If I could become a born again maybe I could live within the rules/laws..conform to what society says is the right way to live. The idea of God makes me feel lost, anti-social, angry, jealous of those that believe. I keep searching and try to find peace in what is.
God is the opium of the masses. Those that believe feel infinite comfort...ignorance is bliss. If I could become a born again maybe I could live within the rules/laws..conform to what society says is the right way to live. The idea of God makes me feel lost, anti-social, angry, jealous of those that believe. I keep searching and try to find peace in what is.
The_Idler
Bluelighter
believing that there is "no God"
is no better than
believing that there is "God"
Due to lack of evidence, weak logic, blatant absurdities and the nature of human society and individuals throughout history,
I do not believe that there is "God".
The most simple and probable explanation seems to be that organized religion (and so the classical conception of Lord Creator) exists and survives because it is extremely useful and effective a controlling people completely, yet subtly.
It is almost as beautifully effective as consumerism/global capitalism.
It's good because it convinces people to subscribe to the systems and procedures of this organization,
by explaining the creation of the universe, the meaning of life, the purpose of their existence, the nature of this world, history, morals etc. through very simple stories that they can comprehend.
The people want these things to be true (because they can't understand string theory, while Genesis is pretty self-explanatory), and so they find it easy to accept them.
They are also taken in by those two little perks, eternal life and absolution from wrongdoing.
"So, just do everything we tell you, and I promise you will spend eternity in bliss,
after the point where your heart has stopped and lack of blood to the brain has caused complete cessation of cognitive activity.....
Wha-?
Nonono, do not worry yourself about HOW this could be possible, or about how I can know this is true.
Tis the power and mystery of GOD.
You must simply believe it is true, and then He will reward you.
Ah yes, GOD. This is the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite and unfathomable Creator.
He can do anything. He knows everything. He is greater than all that there is.
He fashioned this Universe, in all its complexity, from nothing, in a few days.
Pretty powerful huh?
Oh yeah, the best bit is, he LOVES you.
Whenever you are alone, He can comfort you.
Whenever you make a mistake, He can forgive you.
Whenever you cannot comprehend happenings in and properties of this world, He is there as a convenient catch-all.
Whenever you feel used by society; worthless, except for being enslaved to a system of great injustice for the benefit of a few exploitative individuals, He gives you an excuse of a reason for your existence."
the best bit is where they say you HAVE to believe them,
to live forever and be forgiven for your mistakes.
This manages to ensnare, also, people who realise the absurdity of the proposition,
but whose desire for the (considerable) benefits outweighs (consciously or otherwise) the embarrassment inflicted upon ones intellect by purposefully informing others that one holds a belief, even when one finds it absurd.
Then they have FAITH, which is satisfactorily self-perpetuating.
Because the rewards of God/Religion depend on belief,
People cannot know why they feel God must exist, or why they do just trust that guy in the robe with the universe's greatest questions....
If they realised, like Pascal, the only reasoning that supports the idea that subscription to this system was worthwhile for themselves, well....
The magic is lost.
They realise that they only put up with doing everything the man in the robe said,
working all day for someone else's benefit,
paying and honouring the King, because he has been granted the supreme and unquestionable right to rule and exploit and do what he will with an entire nation of people, by an all-powerful, all-knowing, conscious being, which created and transcends our entire universe.
They realise that they only bought that piece of shit justification for their enslavement,
only because they chose to believe in God,
only because they got told that, if they do that, they will live forever in bliss.....
Many people just subconsciously suppress their doubts (they are constantly reminded never to doubt).
This is due to various combinations of:
fear of the unknown;
fear of personal responsibility;
fear of death;
fear of the sense of pointlessness and regret that results from their consideration of the idea that they are actually "just" a fantastically and inspiringly formed being, which grew from a single cell, hosting an astoundingly elegant and effective consciousness, as a non-physical manifestation of the machinations and interactions within its brain, which is comprised of about 100,000,000,000 neurons (a galaxy of stars, also about the number of galaxies in the visible universe).
Because that's just depressing without magic, a superhero and eternal bliss.....
Many people find the idea of their life being completely theirs,
of having ultimate responsibility for its course,
of living with the only purpose of surviving, procreating and enjoying themselves,
to be an utterly TERRIFYING situation.
Many people have an innate and fundamental need,
which is satisfied, only when it appears that they have a simple and just overall goal,
which they are making steady progress towards.
Humans often have a desire for their lives to have greater meaning.
No matter how shit you feel,
no matter how depressed you are,
no matter how useless and pointless you imagine yourself to be,
IF you can believe (or at least convince your conscious mind)
that an all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal conscious being,
which created and now transcends all that there is,
created your life and cares for you and loves you personally
and hopes to teach you wonderful things during the blissful everlasting state of consciousness,
in which you will somehow find yourself, obviously facilitated by his unquestionable power and benevolence,
ONLY AFTER you've dutifully, continually contributed the products of your life's labours to the establishment,
every day, until THE DAY YOU DIE.
and yeah,
if there ever was a God,
He left this Earth a long time ago.
is no better than
believing that there is "God"
Due to lack of evidence, weak logic, blatant absurdities and the nature of human society and individuals throughout history,
I do not believe that there is "God".
The most simple and probable explanation seems to be that organized religion (and so the classical conception of Lord Creator) exists and survives because it is extremely useful and effective a controlling people completely, yet subtly.
It is almost as beautifully effective as consumerism/global capitalism.
It's good because it convinces people to subscribe to the systems and procedures of this organization,
by explaining the creation of the universe, the meaning of life, the purpose of their existence, the nature of this world, history, morals etc. through very simple stories that they can comprehend.
The people want these things to be true (because they can't understand string theory, while Genesis is pretty self-explanatory), and so they find it easy to accept them.
They are also taken in by those two little perks, eternal life and absolution from wrongdoing.
"So, just do everything we tell you, and I promise you will spend eternity in bliss,
after the point where your heart has stopped and lack of blood to the brain has caused complete cessation of cognitive activity.....
Wha-?
Nonono, do not worry yourself about HOW this could be possible, or about how I can know this is true.
Tis the power and mystery of GOD.
You must simply believe it is true, and then He will reward you.
Ah yes, GOD. This is the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite and unfathomable Creator.
He can do anything. He knows everything. He is greater than all that there is.
He fashioned this Universe, in all its complexity, from nothing, in a few days.
Pretty powerful huh?
Oh yeah, the best bit is, he LOVES you.
Whenever you are alone, He can comfort you.
Whenever you make a mistake, He can forgive you.
Whenever you cannot comprehend happenings in and properties of this world, He is there as a convenient catch-all.
Whenever you feel used by society; worthless, except for being enslaved to a system of great injustice for the benefit of a few exploitative individuals, He gives you an excuse of a reason for your existence."
the best bit is where they say you HAVE to believe them,
to live forever and be forgiven for your mistakes.
This manages to ensnare, also, people who realise the absurdity of the proposition,
but whose desire for the (considerable) benefits outweighs (consciously or otherwise) the embarrassment inflicted upon ones intellect by purposefully informing others that one holds a belief, even when one finds it absurd.
Then they have FAITH, which is satisfactorily self-perpetuating.
Because the rewards of God/Religion depend on belief,
People cannot know why they feel God must exist, or why they do just trust that guy in the robe with the universe's greatest questions....
If they realised, like Pascal, the only reasoning that supports the idea that subscription to this system was worthwhile for themselves, well....
The magic is lost.
They realise that they only put up with doing everything the man in the robe said,
working all day for someone else's benefit,
paying and honouring the King, because he has been granted the supreme and unquestionable right to rule and exploit and do what he will with an entire nation of people, by an all-powerful, all-knowing, conscious being, which created and transcends our entire universe.
They realise that they only bought that piece of shit justification for their enslavement,
only because they chose to believe in God,
only because they got told that, if they do that, they will live forever in bliss.....
Many people just subconsciously suppress their doubts (they are constantly reminded never to doubt).
This is due to various combinations of:
fear of the unknown;
fear of personal responsibility;
fear of death;
fear of the sense of pointlessness and regret that results from their consideration of the idea that they are actually "just" a fantastically and inspiringly formed being, which grew from a single cell, hosting an astoundingly elegant and effective consciousness, as a non-physical manifestation of the machinations and interactions within its brain, which is comprised of about 100,000,000,000 neurons (a galaxy of stars, also about the number of galaxies in the visible universe).
Because that's just depressing without magic, a superhero and eternal bliss.....
Many people find the idea of their life being completely theirs,
of having ultimate responsibility for its course,
of living with the only purpose of surviving, procreating and enjoying themselves,
to be an utterly TERRIFYING situation.
Many people have an innate and fundamental need,
which is satisfied, only when it appears that they have a simple and just overall goal,
which they are making steady progress towards.
Humans often have a desire for their lives to have greater meaning.
No matter how shit you feel,
no matter how depressed you are,
no matter how useless and pointless you imagine yourself to be,
IF you can believe (or at least convince your conscious mind)
that an all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal conscious being,
which created and now transcends all that there is,
created your life and cares for you and loves you personally
and hopes to teach you wonderful things during the blissful everlasting state of consciousness,
in which you will somehow find yourself, obviously facilitated by his unquestionable power and benevolence,
ONLY AFTER you've dutifully, continually contributed the products of your life's labours to the establishment,
every day, until THE DAY YOU DIE.
and yeah,
if there ever was a God,
He left this Earth a long time ago.
ebola?
Bluelight Crew
idler said:
1. Why would the classical (read: dominant) Xian definition of God hold a monopoly, particularly in this thread?
2. I find the pantheist god the most valuable formulation that I've encountered.
ebola
MyDoorsAreOpen
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 8,549
Idler, just to let you know I'm going to delete any further drugfaced rants you post in this thread. This thread is not a place for you to air your beef, or your manifestos.
Just let people answer the original question as they wish. kthx.
Just let people answer the original question as they wish. kthx.
FreedomOfTheMind
Bluelighter
My definition of God or the divine is the holistic potency that animates the universe.
I equate God with the universe and I view the universe as an empty, ceaselessly transforming reflection of the unmanifest. A union between emptiness and form. All that has been, all that is and all that will ever be.
I equate God with the universe and I view the universe as an empty, ceaselessly transforming reflection of the unmanifest. A union between emptiness and form. All that has been, all that is and all that will ever be.
^Yep.
And as for the common monotheistic belief that god is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, it can be argued that evidence exists to refute it:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/nicholas_tattersall/evil.html
"When it comes to believing in God, I really, really tried, but, the more you look around, the more you realize something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. This is not good work. If this is the best that God can do, I’m not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being."
-George Carlin
Half those things are man made problems.
FractalDancer
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 133
Idler, I've been an athiest for many years previously so I have never been afraid to admit I don't know whether there is a god of any sort at all!
Lately however, I have become more spiritual and you're right - 'everything' was a convenient way of summing my ideas up, instead of writing a long ramble. It's much easier than the pain of looking back at my posts in years to come to realise that I was most likely in some sort of deluded hippyfied state due to overuse of psychedelics
I love to think about collective consciousness , energy and other spiritual theories you mentioned but being a scientist, my sensible analytical side often kicks and from day to day I have conflicting views... I certainly don't believe in the 'traditional' view of god anyhow, and wouldn't pretend that was the case for the superficial reasons you mentioned. It was perceptive of you to say that what I said allows one to swing both ways - indeed I do, far too much for my liking! Luckily, it's not something I need to discuss with people in day to day life very often, they would find me a very confusing person indeed!
Lately however, I have become more spiritual and you're right - 'everything' was a convenient way of summing my ideas up, instead of writing a long ramble. It's much easier than the pain of looking back at my posts in years to come to realise that I was most likely in some sort of deluded hippyfied state due to overuse of psychedelics
I love to think about collective consciousness , energy and other spiritual theories you mentioned but being a scientist, my sensible analytical side often kicks and from day to day I have conflicting views... I certainly don't believe in the 'traditional' view of god anyhow, and wouldn't pretend that was the case for the superficial reasons you mentioned. It was perceptive of you to say that what I said allows one to swing both ways - indeed I do, far too much for my liking! Luckily, it's not something I need to discuss with people in day to day life very often, they would find me a very confusing person indeed!
dtrip
Greenlighter
It was whatever you regard to be your higher power.
one day with the lord is like 1000. Dos'nt it seem posible now?
somethingaboutmary
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2008
- Messages
- 16
Right on to that good post
marissaaaaaa
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2008
- Messages
- 9,416
hm.
i believe there is a God out there.
as well of the existence of other god's.
kind of like the government. God's like the president, and other god's from greek/roman myths, angels, and mother nature are like the president's cabinet, and seantors.
one being ruling the show, with a bunch of other's helping out.
i agree on a lot of buddhist beliefs, and think that that religon is the closest we'll get to really knowing how shit works.
i don't really agree with the idea of God expressed through my catholic upbringing, which is why i didn't make my conformation. in my faith if you don't make the big c's-christsening, communion, confirmation: "God" believes you're not commited to Him(why is it a him i must ask), and you can't get into "heaven".
and here is my major issue with that idea held in a lot of religon's.
if God is such an all-loving, all-forgiving character, why must you commit, work so hard, live by so many difficult standards, and never stray, to be saved from an eternal fiery torturing?
that being said i don't know if i believe in an afterlife the way i was brought up to believe it.
there's definatly something that happens after you die. there can't be just eternal darkness and unconciousness. that would kind of negate any point to the existance of anything, don't you think?
maybe we all get re-born, with no memory of the past life. into any human, animal, insect, virus, etc, in any time period.
maybe we turn into trees.
maybe we go to the pearly gates.
maybe we don't really go anywhere, and stick around earth.
but i do hope that something beautiful happens, and you feel better there, then you do on any drug were chasing here on earth.
and hopefully there's some God out there, with some plan.
this world and this life's cruel enough, our religious belief's, and afterlife shouldn't have to be.
:]
i have a nice blog on my myspace that sort of pertains to this subj.
if anyones interested im going to try to somehow post it up on my blulight profile.
if not, maybe ill make a thread about the afterlife and post it up despite how scrutinous some of you posters can be
REALLY RANDOM. but i just saw a commercial for some quit-smoking thing chantix, that caused people to attempt and commit suicide.
holy shit what the fuck is the government passing these days to give to us poor helpless citizens.
don't they fucking test shit anymore?
i believe there is a God out there.
as well of the existence of other god's.
kind of like the government. God's like the president, and other god's from greek/roman myths, angels, and mother nature are like the president's cabinet, and seantors.
one being ruling the show, with a bunch of other's helping out.
i agree on a lot of buddhist beliefs, and think that that religon is the closest we'll get to really knowing how shit works.
i don't really agree with the idea of God expressed through my catholic upbringing, which is why i didn't make my conformation. in my faith if you don't make the big c's-christsening, communion, confirmation: "God" believes you're not commited to Him(why is it a him i must ask), and you can't get into "heaven".
and here is my major issue with that idea held in a lot of religon's.
if God is such an all-loving, all-forgiving character, why must you commit, work so hard, live by so many difficult standards, and never stray, to be saved from an eternal fiery torturing?
that being said i don't know if i believe in an afterlife the way i was brought up to believe it.
there's definatly something that happens after you die. there can't be just eternal darkness and unconciousness. that would kind of negate any point to the existance of anything, don't you think?
maybe we all get re-born, with no memory of the past life. into any human, animal, insect, virus, etc, in any time period.
maybe we turn into trees.
maybe we go to the pearly gates.
maybe we don't really go anywhere, and stick around earth.
but i do hope that something beautiful happens, and you feel better there, then you do on any drug were chasing here on earth.
and hopefully there's some God out there, with some plan.
this world and this life's cruel enough, our religious belief's, and afterlife shouldn't have to be.
:]
i have a nice blog on my myspace that sort of pertains to this subj.
if anyones interested im going to try to somehow post it up on my blulight profile.
if not, maybe ill make a thread about the afterlife and post it up despite how scrutinous some of you posters can be
REALLY RANDOM. but i just saw a commercial for some quit-smoking thing chantix, that caused people to attempt and commit suicide.
holy shit what the fuck is the government passing these days to give to us poor helpless citizens.
don't they fucking test shit anymore?
junctionalfunkie
Bluelighter
And the other half of them are not.
Did you read the definition of the Argument from Evil? The point is that a god that is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good would not allow them to exist. Of course, the standard monotheist's response is that god endowed Man with "free will."
jimmyblaze1
Bluelighter
A way of people explaining "miracles" back in the day -
Q:"who did such a thing?!?!" -
A"Why it must have been someone...but noone could do that..." - springing forth much theological discussion...then people hear about people having dreams & being talked to by a radiant being in their dreams etc.
It's an innocent concept here.
Then later on rulers of lands etc start to coin it and tell the people that this GOd person will smite you down if you don't go to CHURCH and obey the laws of the church...
The Church is of course a bunch of people in on the scam, and also a bunch of nutters to boot.
This leads to mass indoctrination - "the opiate of the masses".
So in short, what probably started out as an innocent thing was transformed into an oppressive tool against the lower ignorant classes/castes etc in the case of the major relgions.
Q:"who did such a thing?!?!" -
A"Why it must have been someone...but noone could do that..." - springing forth much theological discussion...then people hear about people having dreams & being talked to by a radiant being in their dreams etc.
It's an innocent concept here.
Then later on rulers of lands etc start to coin it and tell the people that this GOd person will smite you down if you don't go to CHURCH and obey the laws of the church...
The Church is of course a bunch of people in on the scam, and also a bunch of nutters to boot.
This leads to mass indoctrination - "the opiate of the masses".
So in short, what probably started out as an innocent thing was transformed into an oppressive tool against the lower ignorant classes/castes etc in the case of the major relgions.
rhinorider
Bluelighter
"A mother is God in the eyes of a child"
- Status